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Betty S. Keesey

 

  Betty S. Keesey, 88, of Sonoma, via San Francisco and New York, N.Y., died peacefully in her sleep, July 14, 2012, in Sonoma.

  Elizabeth Louise Sturzenegger was born June 18, 1924, in New York, N.Y., daughter of John George Sturzenegger of New York, N.Y., and Mattie Janet Rogers Sturzenegger of New Bristol, New Brunswick, Canada, and sister of Jon Rogers Sturzenegger, also of New York, N.Y.

  Betty grew up in the Queens Borough of New York City during the Great Depression, attending P.S. 45, John Adams High School, studying English at Queens College, before moving to Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in Manhattan. Betty held secretarial positions at Pressed Steel Car Company, and Prentice-Hall Publishers, where she met her future husband, attorney and law book editor, Joseph Louis Keesey (1910-1996).

  Moving to San Francisco in 1949 with her husband as he pursued his career with Bancroft-Whitney Law Book Publishers, Betty worked for Corning Glass in San Francisco prior to the births of her son and daughter. Betty resided in San Francisco and Daly City with her family through 1998, moving in that year to Sonoma to join her daughter and grandsons.

  An avid gardener and cook, Betty also enjoyed the pleasure of reading good fiction, with Iris Murdoch, P.D. James, and Ruth Rendell among her favorites. Fond memories of her good humor, sharp wit and steadfast devotion to family keep her alive in spirit always.

  Betty is survived by her son, Joseph Louis Keesey, Jr., of San Francisco; daughter, Maureen Keesey Fuentes, of Sonoma; grandsons, Victor Keesey Fuentes and Roland Keesey Fuentes, of Sonoma; and numerous nieces and nephews of the Keesey, Stevens and Fontana families throughout the United States.

Inurnment at Duggan’s Mission Chapel in Sonoma. Memorial donations welcomed for Hospice By The Bay (www.hospicebythebay.org), the Redwood Empire Food Bank (www.refb.org), FISH (www.friendsinsonomahelping.org), or to charity